Got an old chromed bronze winch i thought was a Merriman disassembled to clean and found a busted lower pawl. Am looking for a replacement and some spares, but they're proving very hard to find! Contacted RigRite and they told me that it wasn't a Merriman, then they stopped returning my emails/calls. Am possibly looking at having them machined, but that could be overly expensive. Any ideas on the make/model of the winch (it's off a 1967 Islander 33 - could be original), or, more importantly, where i could find some of these pawls?

Shouldn't cost much to get a new one machined, that looks like a simple part.

As an alternative, it looks in the picture like the part is either badly worn or has a piece broken off the end of the pawl. Either way, this can just be built up with a high strength brazing rod and then filed to shape. That will probably be your cheapest and fastest path.

I second just making your own if you can't find them. Bronze is super easy to work with a grinder and a file should get you what you need. Just be careful drilling the hole as bronze wants to grab the bit as your breaking through. Go easy when breaking through and make sure the part is held good. I would drill the hole first then shape the part around the hole.

Took a closer look. If those pawls are on the underside of the rotating cap, with no other moving parts, its probably a South Coast. Popular in the 60s with Cheoy Lee, later bought out by NicroFico, IIRC.

Interesting tip Pauls - i hadn't considered trying to fix the one that's busted.

Blue Stocking: The cap does rotate, the pawls are on the underside of it; but there is a second pair of pawls at the base of the drum of a very slightly different shape. Not sure if when you say "no other moving parts" you're including the drum as well as the cap...

South Coast winches on Googleimages sure do look like the one i've got; RigRite came up again as a source for replacements for those winches. Guess i'll try them again and see if it goes better this time.